


How to Spell Love Out in Hearts

by leftennant



Series: Road Trip of Champions [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Ducky - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Wintershock - Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Reunion Sex, Smuff, Voyeurism, WinterShock - Freeform, all the happy fluffy feels, ducky - Freeform, fooling around online, leap day fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 04:27:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6141468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftennant/pseuds/leftennant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bucky is called away for almost the entire month of February on a mission, he and Darcy make up for it in style.  (with sex.  you know, just in case you weren't sure.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Spell Love Out in Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts), [marvelouskatie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelouskatie/gifts).



> Do you guys know how much I love adding to this series? I love it SO much. Seriously. I had so much fun writing this. 
> 
> Before you read, I have an important thing I need to say first. Sometimes two authors come up with the same awesome idea. In this case, both marvelouskatie and I were bit by the 'Bucky Barnes is a letter writer' bunny at the same time. I already had more than half of this written when she posted her amazing fic, [Keeping In Touch](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5984731). Go read this fic, people. It is GREAT. All her fics are great, and she's the nicest person ever too.
> 
> When I read Keeping in Touch, and saw we had similar ideas, I contacted Katie on tumblr and explained that my fic had letter writing in it too. I offered to change it if it made her uncomfortable, but in a completely gracious move, she said she was cool with me keeping it in the story. Katie, you are my hero. Thank you so much for that, and author fist-bump for us both having the same idea at the same time. Brain-sharing is obviously a thing. I hope you like your gift fic. ;D
> 
> I've also gifted this to the lovely [miin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/miin/pseuds/miin/works). She knows why. You should read her fics too, btw. They are awesome with some of the best, most realistic damn smut I've ever read.
> 
> Also, Some of the fic in this series will take place after the epilogue/engagement in Three Weeks, and some before. This one falls before. I'll try to label them as before or after, so it doesn't get confusing.
> 
> ***************************************************

Bucky isn’t a text guy. Darcy noticed this right off the bat when they got back from New Orleans. He didn't mind getting texts, especially not from her, but he answered in brief responses with the fewest possible words in the most concise arrangement possible. Emails were much the same way. Few words, little emotion, the phrase ‘just the facts, ma’am’ came to mind, but Darcy didn’t mind.

No. The slightly robotic texts and emails meant nothing, because when he was actually with her, Bucky’s actions spoke far louder than words ever could. There was another reason too. A reason only Darcy, and she suspected possibly Steve, knew about.

James Buchanan Barnes was a letter writer. We’re talking pen on paper, crazy doodles in the margins, hilarious and utterly romantic letters. Darcy didn’t find this out until they started arriving when he went out on his first long distance mission after they got together. 

The first showed up in her little metal mailbox at the Avengers facility on the same day he left. Bucky must have tucked in it there on his way out. He wrote it to her while she was asleep next to him, and Darcy had absolutely no idea. That one...the first letter...was full of sweet, playful commentary on how much brighter his life was with her in it, and how he even thought she was beautiful while she was drooling on his pillow.

Darcy immediately sent him a text stating the she didn’t drool, and he shot a text back telling her yes she did, and to keep an eye on her mailbox. 

There was a new letter every single day he was away. The initial ones had all been written while he was still home, but after a few days they were postmarked from spots around the mission location. Every letter made her laugh, and smile. Every letter sounded just like his voice. And every single one ended the very same way. 

_Miss you like crazy, Spot. Can’t wait to see you again._

_Your Bucky_

This happened each time he went away. Darcy missed him like crazy too, but the letters were so much like hearing him speak, that it was almost like having him there. As their relationship grew, so did the content of the letters. Bucky started branching out from just describing his co-Avengers, and how things were going, to writing terrible-on-purpose poetry.

_Roses are red, Violets are blue. When I get home, I’m gonna do you. Probably until you are making that one noise. You know the one? I love that noise. Only three more days now until I get to hear it again._

Yeah. He wasn’t much of a poet, but Darcy still enjoyed the sentiment. She liked the doodles too. He drew little caricatures and cartoons in the free spaces around his handwriting. Sometimes it was tiny images of Steve in full uniform, brandishing the shield and making some smartass comment. Other times it was little sketches of her, like miniature line-drawing Vargas girls tumbling down the margins. 

Her favorites were the cartoons, though. Bucky drew himself and Darcy as if she was an irrepressible tabby, and he was a grumpy bobcat. The little cat was constantly pouncing on the big one, and she often slept on the bobcat’s back with her fuzzy chin resting on the top of his head. After they had their first fight, he drew one with the tabby’s back arched, hissing and spitting, while the bobcat hunched down apologetically, expression full of wide-eyed alarm. That particular effort was stuck to her refrigerator with magnets.

This most recent separation though… Well, even the letters weren’t quite filling the void. He’d been gone for three weeks already under deep cover. Every letter Darcy got had been written before the mission, because it wasn’t safe for Bucky to be sending them while he was doing covert ops. Someone, Darcy suspected Natasha, was in charge of seeing to it that one arrived in her mailbox each day, but she still hadn’t been able to catch whoever it was at it. It was the only communication she got from Bucky other than a handful of hastily sent texts.

_Arrived. Safe. Miss you._

Over a week later: _Still safe. Still miss you._

Ten days after that: _Minor complication today. Might scar. Don’t panic._

So yeah. Not only was Darcy worried sick, but at he’d been away for their first Valentine’s Day together. Not that missing a dumb holiday was her major concern. She just wanted Bucky back in one piece at this point...but...well, Darcy had made him something special, and she was kind of dying to give it to him. Besides, they hadn’t missed it entirely. He’d texted. She’d texted. Lots of little hearts in a row in reply to his, but that had mostly been it.

More days passed, and there was little communication other than the letters Bucky had written before he left. Finally, on February 28th, another communication from him showed up on her phone. Darcy was incredibly relieved. He was safe. 

_Tomorrow. You and me. Video chat. Will send username and time via Friday._

The next day was Leap Day. Darcy was ecstatic. Who needed a boring-ass holiday like Valentine’s day when they could have Leap Day? Besides seeing Bucky’s face after nearly four weeks was plenty good enough to make up for a thousand Valentines.

The hours ticking by felt like forever as she waited for Friday to let her know when and how to contact Bucky. It was late when the AI interrupted the playlist Darcy had on to distract her, and said, “Ms. Lewis? I have an incoming message from Agent Barnes. He wanted me to tell you five minutes, and hermit zero zero one.”

Darcy quickly signed into her laptop, setting up the Stark-owned video chat service. A short time later it chimed with the indication that Hermit001 was trying to contact her. She accepted the call, and the screen went grey for a moment before Bucky’s face appeared.

“Hey there, doll,” he said, face breaking into a smile. He looked straight into the camera, then she could see him glancing down at her image on his StarkPad. “Are you wearing my shirt?”

“Yep. What’s that behind you?” Darcy could see the outline of something on the wall, but most of it was blocked out by his image. 

“Oh this?” Bucky leaned to the side, and she got a view of nondescript wall with a row of slightly jagged white paper hearts taped to it. “Ambience. I’m trying to set a mood. What do you think?”

She laughed. “It’s good. Very festive. No red paper where you are?”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “No scissors either. I had to improvise.”

Bucky held up one of the wicked knives that was usually strapped to his body, and the uneven edges on the paper hearts suddenly made sense. Darcy didn’t even want to think about why the idea of him sitting there carving pretty paper hearts out with a great big knife sort of turned her on. She settled on asking him a question instead.

“So what are you setting the mood for?”

“I dunno. Thought maybe there’s was a holiday I missed, and this might do a little bit to make up for it.”

“It’s okay,” Darcy told him. “Really. I mean, I love the hearts, and I love the thought behind them, but I’m not upset. We’ll do something when you get back. I’m just happy to see your dumb face, and know that you’re still alive. Which reminds me, what was that whole ‘might scar’, thing about? What might scar? What the hell has been going one over there?”

“I'm fine. We just ran into a little trouble with some very persistent arms dealers the other day. It’s nothing I won’t recover from. Already hardly noticeable.”

She could see him shifting his eyes away as he was speaking, a sure sign that there was something he wasn’t telling her, and immediately cut him off. “Show me.”

“Doll…”

“James Buchanan Barnes, you show me right now, or so help me I will confiscate a quinjet and fly out to your location to check for myself.”

He sighed and reached behind his neck to grab the collar of his t-shirt so he could pull it over his head. “Don’t panic, okay? It looks worse than it is. Really. I can’t even feel it anymore.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring, Bucky. Just how bad is… Holy shit!” Darcy’s eyes went round with concern as Bucky bared his chest. Little more than a finger’s width beneath his left pectoral was a wicked looking scar, red and angry. “What did that? And don’t sugarcoat it. I want to know.”

“Machete. It’s not deep...just wide. More of a slash than a stab, really.”

She laughed humorlessly. “Well that makes it better. Just a slash. And if it had been a stab?”

“This conversation would be happening from the medical bay of a helicarrier?” he quipped.

“Cute,” she replied, narrowing her eyes. 

“I’m fine, Spot. Really. If I wasn’t I’d tell you.”

The anxious sound in his voice shook her out of her annoyance with him. Darcy scrubbed her hands over her face, and tried to reason it out. She knew his job was dangerous when they started dating. They’d been all through the ‘he wasn’t good for her’ spiel already. The last thing she needed to do was to trigger another broody episode for Bucky. 

She loved him. She loved that he was an Avenger. Although right at that moment, she mostly loved that he was still in one piece. Which, she reminded herself, was the most important part. He was right. It wasn’t worst case scenario, and Darcy could handle ‘not worst case scenario’ as long as he could.

“I know you’re fine,” she said softly. “I’m fine too. I just worry. It’s not something I can help.”

“I know you do, and I’m trying really hard to keep you from having something to worry about. Things just went belly up this time for a little while.” He gazed steadily at her through the camera on his Starkpad, and it was almost like he was in the room.

“Any idea when you’ll be done over there?” she asked. 

Bucky shrugged. “Could be any time. Steve and Sam have a plan to wrap things up. I’m just waiting on their signal right now.”

“What, while we’re talking?”

“Something like that,” he said. “So, you got my shirt off...any chance I can talk you into taking off yours?”

Darcy laughed. “Subtle, Barnes. And I think I’m having deja vu. Haven’t we done this once before?”

“Maybe. That a no?”

She leaned closer to her laptop in a fruitless attempt to see around him. “That depends. Are you alone?”

For a moment Darcy frowned as her view of Bucky went all blurry and whooshed away. Then she realized he’d picked the pad up to give her a 360 degree angle of the room. 

“Just you, me, and the paper hearts on the wall,” he said, propping it back up on whatever surface he was using so she could see him again.

“Okay then,” Darcy replied. “Before we start, just how far do you want to take this? Are we just talking strip show, or strip show with a grand finale?”

“I’m pretty sure the finale will be grand,” Bucky told her. “At least I hope so.”

“Give me one sec. I’m gonna take this over to the bed.” He gave a loud, comical growl in response, and Darcy laughed. It took her a few seconds, but she got the laptop set up the way she wanted, and knelt down on the bed in front of the camera. “Ready?” she asked.

“Do you want a serious answer to that question, Darce? Because…” Bucky shifted the pad so she could see his lap for a second where he was already palming himself through the black fabric of his tac pants, and Darcy had all the answer she needed.

“So definitely a grand finale then,” she teased. “Alright, Sergeant Barnes. Let’s see if I can’t make that happen. Friday, could you enact privacy protocols?”

“Privacy protocols enacted, Ms Lewis.”

It wasn’t going to be much of a strip tease. Darcy was only wearing Bucky’s shirt, a charcoal colored, flannel button down that she’d stolen out of his closet the day before he left, and a pair of boyshorts with tiny rainbows and unicorns printed all over them. The ensemble wasn’t exactly sexy, but she was going to work it anyway.

She started unbuttoning from the bottom up, sliding each button through the hole with slow precision while she watched his reaction on the screen. The last button was situated between her breasts, and Darcy left it fastened. She paused, running her hands down her hips so the shirt spread apart over body, held together by only one small closure. Bucky shifted in his chair, and she could tell he was widening his stance. 

“Whatcha doing there, soldier?” she asked, nodding at the way she could see his arm starting to move.

“You tell me,” he replied.

“I think you’re being a bad boy.” Her palms slid back up her body, and she licked her lips.

“Sweetheart, I _am_ a bad boy. You knew that the first time you let me take you to bed.”

“Yes I did,” Darcy said. “And what’s more, I love it. Maybe because I’m a bad girl.”

With those words she slid one hand around to her stomach, and began toying with the waistband of her boyshorts. Her fingers skated over the cotton edge, and then dipped beneath just enough to elicit a groan from Bucky.

“Let me see you,” he demanded. “Come on, Darce.”

“See what? These?” She brought her other hand up and traced it over her breasts, cupping and squeezing them through his shirt.

His arm continued to move, and he hissed. “Yeah. Or are you gonna make me beg?”

“Maybe.”

“Please?” 

She could see him gritting his teeth, and winked at him. “You show me yours first.”

With his free hand, Bucky tilted the tablet and she was treated to a view of him slowly stroking his cock. As she watched, his fist moved upwards, thumb sliding across the tip and drawing a bead of precome over the head. 

Darcy whimpered, rolling the tips of her fingers just above her clit in a small circle. Bucky must have heard her, because the view on her screen moved back up so his face was visible again. 

When he saw where her hand was, he let out a quiet huff, teeth cutting into his bottom lip. “That what you wanted?”

“Mhm,” she replied. “It’s not all I want, though...but I’m okay with being patient. For now. Also, I think you earned this.”

Her other hand had been playing with the button. With a flick of her fingers, it popped through the hole. Darcy rolled her shoulders so the shirt slipped down her arms, baring herself to his gaze. 

“ _Jesus_ ,” Bucky said. “Have I ever told you that you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen?”

“It’s the magical rainbow unicorn underwear,” she told him in a confidential tone, and he chuckled hoarsely.

“I think it’s the girl with her hand inside the rainbow unicorn underwear, personally,” he replied. “What’s going on in there?”

“Same thing that’s going on inside your pants...only different,” Darcy said, rubbing her fingers over herself again. 

“Oh yeah?”

“Uhuh.” Darcy closed her eyes, trailing her fingers down to her entrance to draw some of the wetness back up to her clit. 

“Feel good?” he asked.

“ _So_ good.”

“Wish they were my fingers?” The low, husky tone in his voice made her shiver all over.

“You know I do”

“Good. Hold that thought, doll.”

She looked up in surprise to see a blank screen covered in a fuzz of static instead of Bucky’s face. “What the hell?” 

Darcy grabbed the laptop, tapping away on the keyboard in an effort to restore the connection. Nothing worked. She finally gave up with a sigh of frustration and called the AI.

“Friday?”

“Yes, Ms Lewis?”

“Can you re-establish my connection to Sergeant Barnes?”

“I’m afraid I can’t. The Sergeant has cut the transmission from his end.”

“Wait. What? Why would he do that?”

“I’m sorry, Ms Lewis. He hasn’t informed me of his reasons.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. I mean...we were doing a thing, and it was really great and…” Darcy realized she was about to commiserate with an artificial intelligence over smutty video chat coitus interruptus, and halted her tirade before things got weirder. “Nevermind, Friday. Everything’s fine here. Thanks.”

“Are you sure, Ms Lewis?”

“Aside from me strangling Bucky when he gets back? Yeah. I’m good. You can go listen to Tony bitch about loose wires, or broken circuits, or whatever you do when you’re not here being awesome. I’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you, Ms Lewis. Have a good evening.”

The AI went silent, and Darcy flopped back on her bed with a grumpy sigh. She was going to kill him. Unless the reason he disappeared was because he was being shot at. That she could forgive...but still…

Just as she was starting to button her shirt again, Darcy heard a loud rumbling sound overhead. She was off the bed and over to her window like a shot. Descending from the sky like an airborne Navy destroyer was the helicarrier. A smile lit up her whole face as it touched ground on the landing port outside.

“Hold that thought, huh?” she said under her breath, realizing this is what he'd been talking about when he mentioned a grand finale. He knew he was on his way home to surprise her. “Bucky Barnes, you are the fucking _best_.”

She could see the passengers spilling out of the wide bay door. Her eyes scanned through them, dismissing each one until she found a tall, dark-haired figure in all black, jogging across the tarmac with his bag slung over his shoulder. 

Darcy dashed to her closet, stripping Bucky’s shirt off, and tugging his gift off the hanger where it was draped. She ran the lumpy length of red yarn through her fingers before she looped it around her neck. It wasn’t even close to perfect, stitches out of place, and wonky edges here and there, but she’d made the damn scarf herself, just like she promised him back in a tent on a North Carolina barrier island.

Once she had it on, Darcy headed to the living room to meet him. She was barely past the couch when she heard his boots echoing down the hall outside, and the door swung open. For a moment he just stood in the doorway, staring hungrily at her as she stared right back. He stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind him. It reminded Darcy of their first time together back in New Orleans.

Then Bucky took a step forward, and within seconds she was in his arms. He lifted her straight off her feet, burying his face in her neck, and inhaling deeply, like he was trying to breathe her in.

“I think you lost your shirt,” he said, voice muffled against her skin.

“I decided it was extraneous.” Darcy wrapped the loose end of the scarf around his shoulders. “Happy Leap Day. I made you a thing.”

“You made this?” Bucky pulled back, setting her on her feet, and looking down at the long red scarf that was wrapped around both of them.

“I promised I’d keep you warm,” she said. 

“Darcy, you learned to knit for me?” he asked. “Really?”

“I’m not sure you want to call it knitting exactly...people who can actually knit would probably be insulted,” Darcy replied, holding part of the scarf up to show him all the mistakes. “I’d say it’s more like a hot mess of knots… but a hot mess of knots with flair.”

“It’s gorgeous, just like you,” Bucky told her firmly. “Now, I think we had some unfinished business.”

“Yeah, you left me hanging,” she accused.

“Doll, I left us both hanging. It wasn’t my intention, trust me. The helicarrier caught some kind of tailwind, and ended up getting here faster than I thought.”

“So fix it,” Darcy said. “I’m here. You’re here. In your uniform…” She let the end of her sentence trail off as she looked him over in his black tac fatigues. “Is that a gun strapped to your back?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Give me two minutes, and I’ll have all this off.”

“Or,” she said, running her finger across the leather strap in front, “you could leave it on.”

Bucky started to grin. “Sounds like a plan to me. Wanna lose the unicorns?”

“I could do that. Unless you want to help me lose them. You know. Mix things up a little.”

He reached for her hips, reeling her in towards him. “I’m game for mixing it up.”

For a few seconds he just caressed her hipbones with his thumbs. Darcy shivered with each pass of the roughened callouses over her skin. 

“I love when you do that,” she said.

Bucky bent his head over hers. “I know you do. C’mere, gorgeous. I’ve been missing these lips for a full month.”

His hands slid around to her back as he kissed her. It was all warmth, and teasing, with the sweet tang of coming together again after time apart thrown in for good measure. Darcy lightly scratched the back of his head with her nails, and his answering sigh of contentment came with a tightening of his arms around her. He licked her full bottom lip, then flicked his tongue over hers. With each second it became more intense, and by the time Bucky pushed her boyshorts down her hips, Darcy was feeling desperate for his touch elsewhere.

“Want you on top,” he growled, lips still moving over hers. “So I can touch you. See you. _Fuck_ , Darcy. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” she said. “And me on top sounds amazing. Couch?”

“Couch, bed...observation deck on the Empire State Building...I don’t care at this point. Just need to feel you, Darce.”

“It’s a couple hour’s drive to Manhattan,” Darcy replied. “Let’s go with couch, 'cause it’s right over there, and us getting busy on it won’t lead to our arrest and incarceration for lewd and lascivious acts in public.”

“Did I ever tell you how hot you are when you’re being a smartass?”

“Once or twice.” She tugged him over to the couch by the tail ends of the scarf, and pushed him onto it. Then she climbed into his lap facing him, and straddled his thighs. “Not for nothing, but you being dressed while I’m not is kind of really doing it for me.”

His blue-grey eyes darkened with lust. "Me too, doll.”

“The gun isn’t cutting into your back, is it?”

“Nope.”

“Safety’s on?”

“Yep.”

“Fuck yeah. Get those pants unzipped, soldier.” 

Darcy kissed him again, mouth moving insistently over his. He surged up into it with a sharp, needy groan that set her on fire. For a moment they just moved against each other. His cybernetic hand was splayed out her lower back, pressing her closer. The other worked between them to work the catch on his utility belt free, and unfasten his pants. Bucky’s knuckles kept brushing against her tantalizingly the whole time. Between that and their little foray into cybersex earlier, Darcy was more than ready for him by the time he freed his cock. 

“Let me warm you up first,” he said when she positioned herself over him without preamble.

“Unnecessary,” she replied, nipping at his earlobe, and kissing just beneath it in the way that she knew completely wrecked him.

“Really...I don’t mind. I want you to be right there with me when we start.”

“Bucky…” Darcy took her hand in his, sliding down her abdomen until it came in contact with the slick, hot skin between her legs. “It's unnecessary. Seriously. See?”

“Jesus fucking _Christ_ ,” he gasped. “You aren't lyin'.”

He ran one fingertip over her, and she let out a breathy moan. The same finger traced up around her clit before he took himself in hand, and repeated the motion with the head of his cock. Her back arched, hips shifting until she could feel him resting just outside her entrance. 

“Slow, or in one?” he asked.

Darcy circled her hips once, allowing her body to encompass just the tip of his dick, and then said, “In one.”

She caught the bright flash of fire in his eyes for a single second before Bucky pulled down on her hips while giving a sharp thrust up. It was everything. Darcy felt like she’d gone from half to whole, all the feelings of missing him fleeing in a burst of pleasure and homecoming. He released a shuddering breath, looking up at her with hooded eyes, lips slightly parted. 

“Don’t move yet,” he begged. 

“Yeah, no. I won’t. I said I missed you so much, right? I missed you. So. Much.”

“You can tell me that all night, and it’s never gonna get old,” Bucky said. 

“Mmm, I just might.” She shifted up on her knees, drawing up on him just a bit, and looked down into his face. “Can I move yet? Or do you still need a second?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, doll. After a month away, I probably won’t last long.”

“So don’t. We’ve got all night, Bucky. Plus, we both know you’ll get me off at some point...probably more than once, and nobody is handing out prizes for the one that lasts the longest here. Just feeling you inside me is more than enough right now.”

He gripped her hips in his hands, pushing up into her in a slow, deep grind. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“You do all the things,” she told him. “Every single one of them.”

Conversation ended after that. Mostly because Darcy took the opportunity to kiss him again. They started moving in earnest, bodies working together in a way that caused a perfect sharp ache inside her with every thrust. It was so good, _so_ good, almost better than any orgasm. Just the push and pull full of delicious friction was enough, and Darcy loved every second.

“Darce,” Bucky said desperately.

“Don’t wait for me,” she replied. “This one is all you, okay? We have plenty of time to get to me later.”

He swallowed thickly, nodding once, and then pistoned up into her fiercely as he chased his release. It didn’t take much. A few forceful thrusts later, and Bucky gave a broken moan, mouth pressed tight to her neck. Darcy held him through it, relishing the feel of his hips jerking, and the trembling ripples that ran through his body as he came apart. 

She knew it was probably all in her head, but she thought maybe she could feel him as he spilled out inside her in hot, short bursts. After a few moments, his body began to relax. Darcy ran her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp, and continuing down his neck and shoulders. He lifted his head, tilting it in order to kiss her, and then tugged her down so their foreheads were touching. 

“You’re still hard,” she said, wriggling a little on him, and making him smile.

“The better to fuck you with, dollface.”

“Mmmm, I am all about that. Wanna go again?”

“You bet I do. I’ve got my honor to uphold here..." She snorted at that, and he tapped her on the nose. "Like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by the prettiest girl in the room, I've got my honor to uphold, but before I forget, I got you something for Leap Day too.”

“You did?”

“Well, technically it was for Valentine’s Day...and I’m not sure it was so much a gift for you, as it’s gonna be a gift for me if you say yes...but…. Well.... Here.” He slid his hand under her thigh so he could dig into his pocket, and then pulled out a handful of crumpled white paper. “Just pretend they’re still pretty. I promise they looked better before all this happened,” Bucky said with a sheepish smile while gesturing between them.

The creased stack of paper turned out to be the paper hearts he’d taped to the wall during their video chat. Darcy saw that as soon as she started to smooth them out. She also saw that he’d written a single word on each one. As she slowly paged through them, the message became clear.

_I. Fucking. Love. You. Spot._

It was the first time either of them had said the words, and Darcy would have been lying if she said her heart didn’t leap in chest when she read them there in his handwriting. The last heart appeared to have something on the back, and Darcy flipped it over to read, _Move in with me?_

She looked up from the final heart to find Bucky watching her carefully with a boyishly hopeful expression that made her stomach flip around in cartwheels. “You want us to move in together?” she asked.

“Darcy, I spend enough time away from you at work. I don’t want to miss out on a single second with you when I’m home. And it doesn’t matter to me where we live. My place, your place...a whole new place with more room to fit all your books, and weird 1980s crap…”

“Did you just call my vintage tchotchkes crap?”

“Possibly,” the corner of his mouth curved up.

“Eh. I’ll allow it.”

“I knew you would, because I _know_ you, Darcy. I love you, doll, and I want to wake up with you every morning, and go to bed with you every night, and when I’m cooking you breakfast I want you sitting on the counter stealing my ingredients so I have to kiss you to get them back.”

“Am I to understand this offer comes complete with counter sex?” she asked, arching a brow at him. “Because that is a very important point for consideration.”

“Every day if you want,” he replied.

Darcy nodded. “I see. Pen?”

He gave her a puzzled frown. “What?”

“ _Pen_ ,” she reiterated, starting to go through the pockets on his gear as he shifted beneath her to keep up. “Pen, pen, pen…”

“Christ! Darcy, you gotta stop wiggling around. We’re still...I’m still… Wait!” Bucky wrapped an arm around her waist to halt her movements. Then he flipped open a compartment open on his gun harness, and retrieved a pen. “This what you’re looking for?” he asked, and she snatched it out of his hand

“Yep. No peeking.” Darcy rolled her hips once, and he groaned, eyes sliding shut. “Good boy.”

She went through the stack of hearts, writing something beneath each part of his message. Once she was done, Darcy handed them back to him with a smile, and then waited as he read them. 

She’d written, _James, I. Fucking. Love. You. Too._ The very last one had _Yes, I’ll move in with you_ , penned below his question.

A brilliant smile spread across his face as he read. “Yeah?”

“You knew I’d say yes. Like you said, you know _me_.” she told him. “Besides, you totally sealed the deal with counter sex.”

“Actually, we could seal the deal with it right now if you want,” he said, making what she referred to as ‘Bucky’s super-suggestive eyebrow face’ at her.

“Oh my god, you are such a dork. Yeah. Okay. Ten points if you can make it there without breaking the chain.” Darcy pointed down where they were still joined, and he chuckled. 

“Make it twenty points, and you’re on.”

“Deal.”

It involved some very creative maneuvering, but Bucky got the twenty points. Darcy got a stellar orgasm, which was totally worth waiting for, so she was pretty gracious about him winning. The next day they went to Steve and Tony to talk about a bigger place. A week after that, Bucky came home from the local liquor store with a truckload of boxes, and Darcy hit up the lab rats for the leftover bubble wrap and packing peanuts that came with their orders of beakers and pipettes. The first thing she and Bucky did when they moved into their new place was to hang a framed set of small paper hearts up in a row on the bedroom wall. Small paper hearts with two sets of handwriting on them that meant the world to them both.


End file.
